"Shifts Happen"

Hello Dear Readers and Welcome to Autumn!

My Food Today:
after a fabulous yoga class:
No Breakfast (in yoga)
Lunch:
Rockin' Guacamole with avo, tomato, onion, Bragg's, sea salt and cayenne
with Foods Alive flax crackers
Dinner:
Marinated brussel sprouts from Red Clover organic farm in Seymour, CT; sliced in half and marinated in Bragg's Amino Acids
AMAZING (I will be blogging about these olives) raw red cured olives from Whole Life Superfoods in Gresham, OR
Maple flax crackers with raw almond butter and coconut lucuma cream from Vivapure, pure coconut superfoods

This past weekend, I was in a workshop with the world-renowned yoga teacher Beryl Bender Birch. Aside from the physical asana practice of yoga, of which we did plenty!, we also spent time delving into the philosophy of yoga as well as dissecting the Yoga Sutras. One of the wonderful things that Beryl shared was that "Shifts Happen." Just when we get attached to one thing in our lives; whether it be a relationship, a job, a location, a current situation, it can change in a breath. At this point, I want to pay homage to my dear friend, colleague and partner in crime and counseling, Dr. Joanna Bronfman. Joanna just blogged brilliantly http://shrink-w-rap.blogspot.com/2010/10/illusory-musings.htmlwith her musings upon seeing the new Woody Allen film, "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger." I commented on her blog and discussion about a line in the film, "Sometimes the illusion is better than the medicine," by saying that since life is an illusion anyway, we can create it to be whatever we desire. To add to that, what we really have is what is here and now; all that is present at this moment, because "shifts happen," and this moment may become something completely different. Therefore, attachment on this level does not serve us in sustaining joy.
You have all heard me blog about my running. For the past few years, I have been running outside, even through the cold winters at six degrees. I started running at age sixteen, on and off for years; my dad was my first running partner. It's in my blood, with an already goal of a half marathon completed and a long-aspiring goal of a marathon (and a secret fantasy of an Ironman) held in my heart.
So, why did my body decide to suddenly stop running many miles, without known reason or any catastophic event?
For the past two and a half months months, I have gone back and immersed myself in yoga, running now only on opposite days; no longer running five, seven or nine miles; instead running two and a half or three miles. At first I was upset, as running has "defined" who I am for quite awhile. Then I grieved. But as I entered into yoga, I allowed myself to go deeply and expand. I met myself where I was at and opened the doors to new insights each day. Running is constrictive in the body and expansive in the mind; yoga is expansive in the body and quieting of the mind. The level I was at in my life in my own personal development was asking for mental quiet and physical expansiveness.
I understood that as we develop, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, we need our daily practices to correspond to this new person we've become, but our egos have a hard time allowing that.
Why would I want to be the person who was running two years ago to heal her heart after the painful ending of a relationship, when who I am now is the goddess opening to love?
We hold on and hold on to that which we've become attached, so afraid to let it go or lighten it up, so afraid that it marks our identities, when who we are in our evolution has already shifted and requires concrete rituals and daily ways of living to match.
A woman open to love needs to continue to expand her heart everyday; how perfect is heart-centered yoga for that?
And by the way, your food might also change, so be open to new possibilities there, too.
As long as each new level, and with it each new way of living, honors your soul, you will be in the right place.
"Trust the change you already are." Hope
PS- I'll keep you posted on the marathon as my evolution continues...

Be Outdoors and Move Those Limbs!

Breakfast:
Raw Blueberry elixir with coconut water, water, frozen fresh banana, frozen blueberries, psylium seed powder, flax seeds, crunchy almond butter, cacao nibs (a small amount) and agave

Lunch:
Sunshine cheese with celery (soaked cashews, water, sea salt and nutritional yeast)
2 small golden delicious apples with almond butter

Snack:
Raw Revolution chocolate hazelnut bar

Dinner:
salad with romaine, carrot, mushroom, sprouts, dulse; with nutritional yeast and dressing of olive oil and stone ground mustard
Dessert:
bowl of Organic Nectars mint chocolate ice cream with a few walnuts drizzled with agave

12 ounces water

Not enough water today; I was enjoying my elixir so much after my six mile run, that I forgot to have my lemon water. I had a great run today. The sun was sparkling on the water and my "running partner for life or until we finally do a marathon together," Jim, was biking beside me as I ran. Since we have not done this for awhile, it really kicked my butt in a good way; stepping up my running speed to match his biking. Don't get impressed; he was biking very slow, but in order to make it worthwhile for him, I had to challenge myself a little. Have I told you yet how running transformed my relationship with Winter? For the past two Winters, I've been running outside in all weathers; from six degrees to snowstorms and rain. All my friends and family know that Winter used to be extremely difficult for me. From the end of August, when the nights would dip down to fifty degrees, I'd already be freezing and wearing socks to bed. I hadn't run outside in Winter since my twenties. Two Autumns ago, after three seasons of warm running, I said to myself, I need to change my relationship with Winter. Each Winter, I stop running and restart in April, and it gets harder and harder each year to do this. Plus, I'm miserable all Winter. So, I went into the runners' shop and asked for their warmest lightweight clothing. Did I believe it would actually keep Me warm? No way! Lo and behold, it worked. That Winter was a spiritual awakening for me. I ran between seven and nine miles a day (again, know that it's not my speed; I'm a ten minute miler) from five to seven days a week. Also, it was a meditation for me. I was letting go of some things in my life and the running allowed me to process without thinking; I just felt my soul. Believe it or not, I did not actually feel my body as much as my soul. This past Winter, I was running five or six miles. I've also been infusing some other exercise into the mix; dance, yoga, rebounder, jump rope. You know those legs we have? Guess what? They are not designed to sit for long hours in front of the computer or in a car; they are here to move; to bring breath and life into our circulatory system.
If the gym is something you start and stop again and again, think back to what movement excited and inspired you in your early life? Did you love to roller skate or ice skate? Was swimming the most fun for you? Did you grow up playing Frisbee on wide open fields? How about kite flying? Don't do what you "should;" do what you love!
When I was an adolescent, I took six years of modern dance a la Martha Graham; I am still totally turned on by that kind of movement, and bring it into my Thursday night gatherings, along with drumming, singing and chanting (other passions of mine).
Write in and tell me what forms of movement inspire you?